Batik, the well-known wax-resist dyeing and block printing craft, has been practised in Kachchh for a very long time. Shakil Ahmed Khatri’s family have been Batik artisans for generations, and he himself was mentored in the craft by his uncle, before training formally at Kala Raksha Vidyalaya under Judy Frater. Shakil is deeply concerned that the once-prized craft of Batik has lost its sheen, and is today viewed as an industrialised textile; he is committed to putting it back on the map of artisanal textiles. In this collection he creates an eclectic mix of art and craft with prints, fashion and painterly textures.
